Don't jump off the plane...

Ok...so can I just say WOW?! First of all, I just want to say that God is SO good! I'm sure most of you know that and those of you that don't-HE IS! ("Taste and see that the Lord is good."-Proverbs 34:8). This year has definitely started off right. And what I mean by that is my attitude. I have spent more time in the Word the last couple of days than I have in a long time. It's what I have needed and it's been awesome. I spent almost a whole entire day listening to Louie Giglio & Andy Stanley sermons online and lemme tell ya, they are PHENOMENAL if you've never heard them. Those 2 men can certainly preach the word of God. I got so much out of their messages and I know for sure I was led to those sermons for a reason. My roommate, Natalie just got back from a retreat with our sunday school class and it was so exciting just listening to her talk about everything that happened and listening to her share what their sessions were about. A lot of what she shared with me were definitely things I needed to hear, but there was one thing she told me that really stood out and has definitely stuck with me. It had to do with waiting..basically..which is the story of my life (by the way).

Here's the analogy: Think about being on an airplane. You're on the airplane and you're anxious, you're anxious just to get off because you know where you're going or where you want to go, but you're still in the air. You have a pilot-you can't see him, but you know he's there because you can hear him over the intercom every now and then telling you about the weather conditions and how much longer it may be til you land or he may just tell you that he can't land and not always give you a reason. He's constantly in touch with air-traffic control waiting to land at the perfect time. In the meantime, you are still very anxious just to get off the plane, so you decide to take matters into your own hands and jump out of the plane to get to the ground quicker. But what happens if you do that?....you die, right?

So many times in life we get anxious and get tired of waiting (Lord knows I do!) and we try to take matters into our own hands. We think that we can do things better and we know the right time in which to do things. The truth of the matter is, we don't...because what happens when we DO take matters into our own hands?...it leads to death. We have to trust in our ultimate pilot that He's going to land our plane at the right time because we knows that's the safest way. That analogy spoke to me and my heart so much because I am so guilty of trying to "jump from the plane" before it's ready to land. Lately so many good scriptures have been brought to my attention. Here are a couple:

"I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted."--Job 42:2

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.."--Eccl 3:1

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."--Isaiah 40:28-29

Something else that really just jumped out at me and literally made me say "WOW!" out loud was, I was just opening up my Bible a little while ago to look something up and the first page I happened to open up to was the story of Isaac & Rebekah. On the first page, I happened to look down and something I had written (I write all my notes in my Bible instead of a notebook) that Mrs. Karen Scoggins said one morning in sunday school blew me away. It said "God's delays aren't necessarily denials." When I read that, it made me want to keep reading and so on the very next page, I wrote "God calls us to WAIT & when it does happen, its so special." Another said, "If God is trying to bring about something in your life, let Him do it-don't try to manipulate it." God knows what we need, when we need it and actually, even before we need it or think we need it. He loves us and is on top of things. Remember...He sees the BIG picture while we are just seeing this small portion of it.